OUR OPINION: Department of Public Health needs oversight

Why is the Massachusetts Department of Public Health – dogged by two national scandals since 2012 – inviting yet another?

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The Enterprise, Brockton, MA

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Posted Jan. 23, 2014 at 3:00 AM
Updated Feb 15, 2014 at 9:54 AM

Posted Jan. 23, 2014 at 3:00 AM
Updated Feb 15, 2014 at 9:54 AM

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Why is the Massachusetts Department of Public Health – dogged by two national scandals since 2012 – inviting yet another?

A mere 21/2 weeks before DPH was due to announce its picks of medical marijuana dispensary licensees from a list of 100 finalists, Commissioner Cheryl Bartlett changed the rules. Originally, DPH was expected to announce the up to 35 recipients of the licenses Jan. 31. According to DPH spokesman David Kibbe, the applications were originally to be reviewed by the medical marijuana selection committee and chosen by Bartlett. Said Kibbe, "That's what we announced to applicants back in October."

But on Jan. 13, DPH announced newly appointed executive director of the medical marijuana program Karen van Unen would make the final selection.

Changing the terms of the application process days before the selection is blatantly unfair to the 100 applicants who paid $30,000 simply to be considered. In fact, it's an invitation for an expensive lawsuit – or several – that the taxpayers will be forced to foot.

Kibbe wouldn't comment on that but did say nowhere in the regulations did it require the commissioner to make the decision – though that's exactly what applicants were told.

This comes on the heels of two national scandals that first came to light in 2012. The first involved DPH crime lab chemist Annie Dookhan, sentenced to 3 to 5 years for falsifying drug tests, and others – who through intention, ignorance, apathy or negligence – jeopardized over 40,000 criminal cases, costing the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

The other involved the Framingham-based New England Compounding Center, which was overseen by DPH. It was responsible for a fungal meningitis contamination of its steroid injections which has so far resulted in 64 deaths, while sickening over 700 others.

Given DPH's controversial oversight of both the crime lab and the compounding pharmacy, we wonder why the agency isn't being more professional in issuing medical marijuana dispensary licenses.

From the start, the state agency hasn't been exactly forthcoming with information about the process or those involved. When asked if the public could review the 100 applications to learn all of the names of those involved, not simply the individual license applicant, Kibbe said not yet. He said the applications are in the process of being redacted and would be made available for review sometime "before or after" the license holders are announced. All of the applications should have been made available when the 100 finalists were named in November.

Given her political donation to and relationship with former U.S. Rep. William Delahunt – who has applied for three licenses – as well as other former legislators involved in the process, Bartlett was right to recuse herself. Yet that should have been done during the first phase of the process.

Page 2 of 2 - We agree with the Massachusetts Republican Party, which last week called on Gov. Deval Patrick to name an independent commission to review and select the medical marijuana licensees. At this point, DPH can't salvage the integrity of its medical marijuana dispensary application process and Massachusetts taxpayers can't afford yet another costly DPH debacle.